


Crystalline

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 06:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9535649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: Emmeline is on the side of the light and Rabastan is on the side of the dark...maybe. Auror and Death Eater—they make it work.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Done for a quote prompt. Read, review, and enjoy!

> _"The first duty of love is to listen." —Paul Tillich_

"I can't believe you… What if we'd sent some after you? You could've been killed!"

The witch glared at her lover. "I have a job—an important one. You know I take what I do seriously. _You're_ the one who could be killed at any hour of the day!"

The wizard, Rabastan Lestrange, paused, growing red in the face as he grew madder. "Emmeline—! _Don't_ start this again!"

Emmeline Vance sighed exasperatedly. "The important part is that the Advance Guard was fine. Harry Potter is still alive, and I'm still in one piece, Rab."

Rabastan slammed his hand on the small table in her flat. "You're not _getting_ it!" He took a deep breath and calmed himself. He appreciated that Emmeline waited so patiently; he would not have, had he been in her shoes. Her hand covered his, another thing to help soothe him.

"Rabastan, we've been over this before. I _do_ get it, and I know how to protect myself. If anything, _you_ need to be careful! You're part of a group that's pure evil…but _you're_ not." She removed her hand from his and cupped his cheek that was darkened by the beginning of five o'clock shadow. "Rab… You're not like them. And once they find that out, you'll be dead."

He looked into her eyes, electric blue meeting raw umber. After another moment, he sighed. "'Eline… I can't get out of it."

"Yes, you can. You stopped sticking up for Rodolphus last year. He didn't save you! Malfoy did!"

"I know, but—"

Emmeline gasped as it dawned on her, the reason for his hesitation. "…you're indebted to Malfoy, aren't you? Rab, if ever there was an evil man besides You-Know-Who, it's Lucius. His manipulative ways get people killed, or worse. He's a bloody coward by using people, but he still does fair damage."

"He's got my back, and I've got his. You don't know him, 'Eline."

"Right. Just as I don't know how to handle myself." She stood and gestured to the door of her flat. "Goodnight, Rabastan."

The black-haired wizard stared at the brunette. He stood with a grimace. "You're too damn stubborn, Emmeline." He grabbed her hand and kissed its back, despite her struggling, before he left.

Emmeline hated fighting with Rabastan, but he was just as stubborn as she. She'd been with him for more than a year—something for which she laughed at herself. She'd met him when he'd been at his craziest. The witch had hated that he'd slipped through her Auror fingers and had been part of the Death Eater group that had brought back Voldemort at the Triwizard tournament. But everything had changed when she saw—for a split-second before the Death Eaters had fled—the fear in his eyes after Malfoy had stopped the Dark Lord from killing him. Their next meeting was a blurry bit of chance, and then she'd fallen for him.

Rabastan thought on those same memories as he went to sleep that night, and the reveries stuck with him over the next few days. Thoughts of Emmeline made him subdued. Even Lucius teased him when they next met.

"Rabastan, you are _rarely_ quiet," the blond wizard stated over the rim of his goblet at the bar counter. "What's wrong?"

The younger Lestrange son frowned. "I've just been thinking."

"Exactly. What's wrong?"

Rabastan glared at him for that jab, but he otherwise ignored it. "It doesn't matter."

Lucius sneered. "Obviously it does. You've been muttering 'Roses or lilacs?' under your breath the whole time we've been here."

His frowned deepened. "I—" He sighed. "It's nothing. … How do you get through an argument with Nymph?"

Lucius thought. Rabastan wondered just how Lucius made it work with…Nymphadora _Tonks_. To Rabastan, Lucius and Nymphadora couldn't be more polar opposites. Although, Lucius _had_ admitted to actually being in love with Nymphadora recently. Rabastan was glad for his friend. Narcissa had been the worst possible choice for Lucius; that woman had never stopped seeing that ruddy half-giant, Hagrid.

"Well?" Rabastan pushed.

"I sit her down, and we have it out. But we hear each other out. Listening works," he finished. He grabbed his firewhiskey and downed the rest of it. Lucius paused. "I know who she is, don't I?"

Rabastan smirked. "Thanks for the advice, mate. Lilacs, it is." He exited the Leaky Cauldron, got a good bouquet along the way, and finally returned to Emmeline's apartment, though there had been a few days of his absence. He knocked and—

There was no answer.

That irked him. Why would she ignore him? Was she really _that_ stubborn? Or had he made her _that_ angry? Either option buggered the hell out of him. "Emme—" he started.

"Yes?"

Her voice behind him surprised him so much that he flung the flowers to the ground, grabbed her, pinned her against the wall, and drew his wand against her throat. He flushed when he realized his stupidity. "Er… Sorry, luv. Reflexes, you know."

Emmeline frowned. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too. I was such an idiot. I know you're strong, but I worry as much for you whenever you go out as much as you worry for me whenever I'm with… _them_."

The witch closed her eyes and leaned in to his gentle kiss. "I understand. And I'm sorry for saying what I did. I should trust you more. Why shouldn't I think Malfoy can change if you did? And you have to admit, you _are_ pretty insane, Rab."

He laughed against her lips. "I know…but you keep me grounded here." Rabastan pulled Emmeline into his arms. "I— I'll be more careful. Just promise me you'll be, too."

To his surprise, she chuckled. "We're not so fragile that we'd break over an argument, Rab. It's going to take a bunch of Killing Curses for that."

"Uh… Considering both of our lines of work and circumstances, can we _not_ mention any Unforgiveable Curses, luv?"

"That depends—may I have a fresh bunch of my favorite flowers?"

Rabastan smiled. "Of course, luv." He kissed her again and again, both forgetting any traces of their troubles for just a few dear moments.

**Author's Note:**

> YAY! I LOVED writing this! I think they work really well together, and there will definitely be more for them, I just have to find the time, *lol*. This was set in the same universe as an old, ongoing Lucius/Tonks fic, In Red Bloom, hence the boys' discussion of Tonks. Throwing in Narcrid (Narcissa/Hagrid) was just a happy mention for myself.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki ;)
> 
> 2016 note: A part of me knew back in 2010, when I wrote this, that Embastan would become part of my overall headcanon, though (as is often the case with me and the majority of my HariPo rarepairs) I've written them only a few times. That Tonkscius fic mentioned above is still incomplete, sad to say… But I plan on revisiting Embastan again in the future, no worries. -w-


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